Jenkins Johnson Gallery Hosts Wes Hempel

Saturday, 12 August 2006 08:58

New York City - Jenkins Johnson Gallery is pleased to present Injury and Desire, a solo exhibition featuring new paintings by Wes Hempel.  In the project room, Jack Balas’s series of watercolors, Muse/Museum, will be on view.  A reception for the artists will be held Thursday, September 7, 2006.

Wes Hempel’s new works incorporate contemporary figures into art historical backgrounds that may be direct quotations or inspirations.  The narrative scenes function in a revisionist manner to comment on modern times.  Each portrays a specific point frozen in time and Hempel is particularly interested in the moment before and the moment after a particular scene.  Moreover, the ambiguity and sense of displacement that occur inspires viewers to construct their own explanation of the where, when, why, and how.

Injury and Desire utilizes this approach to examine the correlation between these two emotional states both physically and psychologically.  Hempel’s figures are virile, capable, strapping men in their prime, yet they seem to be brooding their vulnerability, masculinity, and sexuality.  They find themselves in some instances lost, stuck, thwarted, or disconcerted by their surroundings. 

This contrast between their apparent physical and psychological states incites the viewer to wonder about the nature of the subjects’ injuries.  What injustices or indignities have they been confronted with?  What physical trauma may they have suffered or be suffering beneath their Adonis-like facades?  Hempel’s depictions remind us that you never can judge by a first impression as everyone has their own story to tell that defines who they are now and will inform who they become in the future.